On this day: December 14

George Washington dies, a spacecraft flies by Venus for the first time, Bob Dylan releases his first single, President George W. Bush ducks flying shoes, and tragedy hits Sandy Hook, all on this day.

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Syracuse University

1939: Ernie Davis, who in 1961 became the first black athlete to win the Heisman Trophy as a running back for Syracuse University, is born in New Salem, Pennsylvania. Davis would become the No. 1 overall pick in the 1962 NFL Draft by Washington, although he was later traded to the Cleveland Browns, but would never play in the NFL. He was diagnosed with leukemia in the summer of 1962 and died on May 18, 1963, at the age of 23.